One of the biggest issues in the rise of Web-based real time communications (WebRTC) is the ongoing issues among the major browsers. While Google and Mozilla have embraced WebRTC, followed quickly by Opera, Microsoft and Apple—makers of the Internet Explorer and Safari browsers respectively—have been less than eager to bring the new system into operations. But a new development seems to be bridging the gap between Google and one of the biggest holdouts: Microsoft.
The new development is known as “Object RTC (ORTC) API for WebRTC”, and it allows for a complete framework to bring in voice and video chat much like Skype's own, but directly for the browser, meaning that plugins, downloads, and other third-party issues are no longer really a problem. Website developers should have easier access to such tools, and since the whole thing has its roots in JavaScript, the additions should be comparatively simple, a development that's generally welcome as simpler projects require less in the way of resources to put in place. Fully open voice and video chatting between both desktop and laptop browsers, as well as the browsers found on mobile devices, should likewise be comparatively simple to get around.
The API also reportedly supports more advanced features as well, including simulcasting and scalable video coding systems, which were actually considered “difficult to support in an interoperable way within SDP in WebRTC 1.0.” Essentially, as described by the ORTC page, the system focuses on a simple model, one of “sender, receiver and transport objects,” with each defined in terms of capabilities—what such things can do—and parameters, what such are intended to do.
It's certainly a step in the right direction, trying to get all the major operating systems on the same page. Indeed, the farther Microsoft goes in this direction, the more likely it will be that Apple will follow suit just to not be trapped in its own walled garden, so to speak. With everyone on the same page, development can start proceeding in a common direction, and some of the issues around WebRTC—particularly things like security as was discovered earlier this month—can hopefully be better resolved. There is, however, one key consideration that's likely framing a lot of Microsoft's response in this field, and that's the issue of Skype. One of the biggest points about WebRTC was that it was likely to intrude in quite a bit of Skype's market, because it did the same things, but required no downloads or the like to operate. It's somewhat simpler to use than Skype, and might well end up putting a lot of Skype's business out of reach. Not all of it, of course, but it's going to prove interesting nonetheless to see what Microsoft does with Skype by way of response to the growth of WebRTC-based applications.
Still, there's one major holdout left to go, it would seem, and Apple's noncommittal stance will likely need to be fully resolved before this can really be all said and done. But with Microsoft seemingly increasingly onboard, we could be looking at a common future here driven by WebRTC across several different platforms.
Edited by
Maurice Nagle
